Woody Allen has
nearly created an entire sub-genre of comedy with the consistency that he has
retained many of the same narrative and stylistic choices over the years, even
since his shift from New York to Europe as a regular shooting location. Allen nearly has a
Japanese mentality to filmmaking, seeming to long for consideration as a whole,
as one would do with the work of Yasujiro Ozu, and the breadth of his work
makes this entirely plausible. In theory, this will always make Allen a
filmmaker of incredible significance, though I hardly anticipate upcoming
releases from him with any amount of excitement. Magic in the Moonlight fits perfectly in this filmography;
seemingly effortlessly produced with the fluidity of a well-oiled machine,
though void of any innovation. Allen may be more high-brow than the average
romantic comedy, but he has come to be every bit as predictable.

Basing a film on
true events can often be a double-edged sword in the hands of an incapable
filmmaker. There are two opposing impulses in these narratives, and they can
often be in direct conflict with each other. The urge to mold the inspirational
and motivational events to adhere to genre structures can often directly
contradict the goal of a faithful and realistic portrayal of the actual people
behind the story. When the Game Stands
Tall attempts to do both, at the detriment to the final product.

The Poverty Row
studio Columbia Pictures won 13 Academy Awards in the 1930s, and 11 of them
were directed by Frank Capra. Capra was a filmmaker both loved and despised for
his saccharine handling of social issues in film, each making grand statements
in themes with the help of likeably quirky characters. Some criticize this
style, while others revel in the pure emotional pleasure of films like It’s a Wonderful Life and You Can’t Take it With You. While there
is an incredible amount of realism in Mr.
Smith Goes to Washington, including a recreated set of the Senate chamber,
it also has the unmistakably familiar touch of Capra sentimentality.

Based on the
short story “Fire in the Hole” by crime novelist Elmore Leonard, “Justified”
works as an adaptation with room for growth. Timothy Olyphant has a strong
presence as the lead, and he has plenty of experience carrying a western-type
show, though this FX seriesis far more similar to “Sons of Anarchy” than
“Deadwood.” The premise had begun to run a little bit thin by the third season,
though the inevitable final season in sight has increased the stakes of the
drama. He is still a lawman who often operates outside of conventional law, and
surrounded by corruption this is often a necessary approach.

I have a vague
recollection of enjoying Dead Snow, but little about the actual film stands out
in my mind. The main problem is the cookie-cutter co-ed characters and set-up
that resembled numerous other horror movies. The familiarity of this set-up was
only off-set by the creativity and tone of the film’s violence, though the
first act forces the audience to spend far too much time with a predictable
premise and disposable characters. This problem is immediately resolved in the
sequel, which begins where the first film ended, with solitary survivor Martin
(Vegar Hoel) battling zombies after accidentally killing his girlfriend and
sawing his own arm off. This fast-paced beginning only lets up for moments, but
once again filmmaker Tommy Wirkola’s strength lies in the creatively gory
action.

I desperately
wanted to like the romantic comedy spoof, They
Came Together, because few genres of film are as formulaic and predictable.
The problem with that film was the inability to exceed the sheer ridiculousness
of the popular date movie narrative. Even in the attempt to mock romantic
comedies, They Came Together simply
resembled the worst, most contrived, formulaic and cliché of the genre; like What If. If you picture any
stereotypical romantic comedy scenario, it is presented unironically somewhere
in the 98-minute running-time of this fluff art.

The world of
“Doctor Who” has many rules and technicalities to the storyline, no doubt
adjusted to continue the franchise from generation to generation. Among these
are the specifics behind the doctor’s changing appearance through the years
since his arrival in pop culture in 1963. Apparently there are a certain amount
of incarnations of the same doctor over the years, which explains the change in
actors playing him. The episode, “The Time of the Doctor,” marked the departure
of Matt Smith and the introduction of Peter Capaldi for the eighth season.
Unfortunately, “The Time of the Doctor” hasn’t been included in this
collection, despite past seasons making a habit of including the traditional
Christmas special.

Merely looking
at the cover of the “Guardians of the Museum” DVD, one might automatically
assume that this was some type of British rip-off of the popular Hollywood film franchise adapted from children’s books, A Night in the Museum. The artwork looks
far too similar to go unnoticed, although the content could not be much
different. Even with a cover that borders on plagiarism, “Guardians of the
Museum” is a rather unique children’s educational game show. Directed at a younger
audience, this show gives lessons while simultaneously using special effects
and a somewhat contrived narrative to add some elements of fantasy into the
historical trivia show.

Based on the
books by David Walliams, these two hour-long adaptations are not directly
related to the holidays despite the conveniently titled package. “A Very Funny
Christmas” merely contains two adaptations of stories by Walliams that happen
to take place during the holidays. The irreverently imaginative children’s
narratives could easily be watched any time of the year, but packaging them
this way enhances the timeliness of the stories and sets the DVD up for holiday
purchases.

It is that time
of year again, which means many home entertainment releases that would be
deemed inconsequential released during any other season. These theme DVDs are a
regular occurrence year-round, but they only truly make sense with the holiday
collections. Clearly designated as a stocking-stuffer gift, this collection
comes with four Christmas-themed episodes from three popular Cartoon Network
series.

This is a little
bit strange, but as I prepared to review this typically overly-saccharine
holiday film involving a dog I couldn’t help but notice that star Dean Cain has
a longstanding relationship with both holiday and canine-themed family films.
Along with this film, Cain has many other holiday films on his resume,
including A Christmas Wedding (2006),
A Nanny for Christmas (2010), The Case for Christmas (2011), Merry ExMas (2014), Small Town Santa (2014), Defending
Santa (2014).

Premature is a predictably typical sex
comedy in nearly every way, with the exception of the time loop narrative that
makes it resemble Groundhog’s Day or The Edge of Tomorrow for a high school
virgin. And even the use of a time loop somehow does little to motivate
originality in the screenplay, which is content to re-use the same vulgar gag
repeatedly as the only source of entertainment within the film. Characters are
little more than props for the repeat sex jokes and predictable outcomes, with
female characters sketched out in a two-dimensional manner to fit into the male
fantasy.

Bound by Flesh
is strongest when delving into the historical context of the freak show rather
than the personal lives of conjoined twins, Daisy and Violet Hilton. It isn’t
that their lives aren’t interesting, but we are given very little content to
help us understand or relate to them as people, beginning with the essential
choice to remain conjoined despite having no medical reason to stay that way.
These sisters chose to remain attached to each other, even long after their fame
and careers in the entertainment industry had passed.

“The Paradise” is a new BBC series which has the feel of a
classic literature adaptation, filled with savory melodrama and colorful
characters in an immaculate Victorian setting. Season one of this delightful
romance could stand alone as a miniseries by the way the story is neatly
wrapped up in eight episodes, though the narrative continues with this second
season. While the narrative may not be so neatly contained in a second season,
the characters are increasingly endearing through a new series of obstacles and
conflicts.

Agatha
Christie’s iconic character of Miss Marple has been played by many actresses,
from Margaret Rutherford to Angela Landsbury with more adaptations inevitably
on their way, but none are likely to surpass the success of the original
interpretations by Joan Hickson in the 1980s and early 90s. Hickson was 78 when
she was cast as Miss Marple in 1984, making her one of the oldest actresses to
ever take a lead role in a television series. This collaboration resulted in
twelve television film adaptations of Christie’s classic works starring
Hickson, before her retirement eight years later.

“Last Heroes of
D-Day” is a 2-part World War II documentary special about the events leading up
to D-Day on June 6th, 1944. Utilizing interviews from surviving
veterans, reenactments and special effects, this special gives the top secret
stories of espionage and planning that went into the calculated attack in Northern France by the Allied Forces. It is all very
cutting edge and flashy, including hip young host Dan Snow.

Walter Tull was
a successful professional football player prior to the First World War, where
he was a heroic non-commissioned officer until his death in 1918. The
television movie, “Walter’s War” focuses entirely upon Tull’s time in the war,
and the 53-minute TV-movie feels incomplete because of these limitations in the
screenplay. This wounds the telling of this true story, but it is the cliché
racial obstacles within the narrative that deals a fatal blow to the derivative
screenplay from actor-turned-writer Kwame Kwei-Armah.

This was the
film which catapulted the success of the screwball comedy genre in the 1930s,
not to mention its impact on the sales of undershirts in America. Made just prior to the
days of Production Code censorship and restriction, It Happened One Night has a sequence which doesn’t seem anything
but mild by today’s standards, but might have been cut had the film been made a
year later. The scene featured Clark Gable’s character undressing, and this
dashing star’s missing undershirt in this sequence suddenly gave men all over
the country to skimp on this article, either for fashion or frugality.

Certain cultural
figures never truly leave the limelight, and it feels as though there is
renewed interest in their celebrity every few years through various documentary
and film projects. These icons most commonly include John Lennon, Bruce Lee and
Muhammad Ali. The latter of these three has been given another documentary
feature to praise his accomplishments, though I Am Ali does little to add to
the cultural significance of the man. Aside from the rehashing of familiar
material, the main draw of I Am Ali is commentary from those closest to him and
private recordings of personal conversations with family members. For those who
have no need to hear one of the greatest boxers talking in a baby voice for his
children, any of the other documentaries will likely suffice.

21 Jump
Street seemed like a terrible idea, along with
The Dukes of Hazzard, Starsky & Hutch and every other
television-to-film adaptation from decades past. In the end, it was the film’s
unwillingness to take the material seriously which was ultimately the saving
grace, which is why it makes sense for the post-modern, self-referential style
to carry the sequel into successful comedic territory. Rather than just
creating a straightforward second installment in the franchise, this quickly
becomes a comedy about the ridiculousness of all buddy-action sequels. The
impact of this humor was also far greater before the news of another sequel in
the works, especially since the end of this film is dedicated to poking fun at
that very prospect.

Road trip films
are often far more interested in the journey than the destination, but the
Icelandic setting of Land Ho! makes
each step of the trip feel like an arrival of sorts. The plot is minimal
between the two old friends on the trip together, so all focus is on the
character development, and the scenery often feels as though it has a
supporting role in the narrative. This is not unlike many other road
trip/vacation buddy comedies, though it does begin to feel like a travelogue
for Iceland
at certain points in the meandering screenplay.

Donnie Yen has
somehow gone from one of the most impressive martial arts action stars working
today to becoming nothing more than a celebrity face for the latest CGI-filled
blockbuster in Chinese cinema. Iceman is the latest of these poorly constructed
vehicles of mass entertainment, mashing up period costume drama with modern
police procedural, all filtered through the expectations of logic usually
lowered for a comic book movie. There is action and humor every
fifteen-minutes, all meant to entertain while distracting from the
ridiculousness bursting from every frame of this film. And just in case the
open-ended resolution of the film’s climax doesn’t completely turn away the
audience, there are plans for a sequel to follow.

This low-budget
science-fiction dark comedy from Sweden plays into the darker
recesses of human nature, specifically delving into the question of what we
might do if there were no repercussions for our actions. What if we could act
any way that we wanted, because the simple push of a button could provide the
ability to control the way that others perceive events? LFO imagines a
situation where that power is in the hands of a disturbed loner spending most
of his time alone, envious of those he watches from the windows of his home.

The ambiguity of
the horror film Beneath is what allows it to still claim inspiration from a
true story, though we know that many of the film’s more grotesque images cannot
possibly have existed in reality. This is also what helps the audience to grasp
some type of understanding from the ambiguity. I found this construction in the
screenplay to be the most impressive element of the film, which in every other
way seems to be as generic a horror movie as I have ever seen.

I was more than
a bit of a troublemaker when I was younger, mostly due to my overactive
imagination and the unwillingness to remain bored. When my physical situation
is dull, I find my mind compensating with creative inspiration for ideas of
less than traditional amusement. In other words, I would have fit right in with
the guys of “Impractical Jokers,” despite the fact that they are fully grown
and still amusing themselves through immature methods. The adult in me is
somewhat embarrassed for these four grown men, while the kid in me is simply
jealous of their job.

There have been
far too many exorcism/demonic possession films in recent film history for Deliver Us from Evil to stand out
without a twist, which is the blending of a police procedural with the
religious horror genre. Add the fact that it was inspired by actual accounts of
an NYPD sergeant (another favored element of the genre), and Deliver Us from Evil should have
delivered adequate entertainment. Unfortunately, in order for a film to be
frightening, you have to be able to see what is going on, and this is easily
one of the worst shot horror films I have ever seen.

Grace: The Possession has the laziness
of a found-footage horror movie without any of the logic. Rather than being a
film shot by the characters, we are instead given the sole perspective of a
demon that has entered the body of our protagonist. This means we witness
everything through the eyes of Grace (Alexia Fast), whose POV becomes the same
as the typical hand-held camera shots of a found-footage horror movie. Then
again, this also means the audience is not subjected to relentlessly asinine
reasons for the character to be holding a camcorder for the running-time of the
narrative.

It is easy to
see why F is for Fake is often called
an “essay film,” because of how it transitions from one narrative of forgery to
the next, each time connecting them with common threads. But it is also far
more than that; a documentary with filmed sequences and original stories mixed
in. It is an unpredictable viewing experience, which is what one would expect
from the mind of Orson Welles, who becomes a link on the narrative chain along
the way.

In the wake of
David Fincher’s critical and box-office success about a missing person’s case,
a classic in the genre from 1988 has been released on Blu-ray through The
Criterion Collection. Also based on a screenplay adapted from a novel by the
author himself, The Vanishing was
successful enough to warrant an American remake starring Jeff Bridges and
Kiefer Sutherland five years after this French/Dutch version. In reality,
however, this is a narrative which has been around for much longer, whether
considering Alfred Hitchcock’s classic, The Lady Vanishes, or a classic
Parisian Urban Legend from 1901. What makes director George Sluizer’s film
memorable is his uncompromising and unforgettable ending.

Originality is
something hard to come by in period martial arts movies, mostly because there
have simply been so many of them. With the historical events of the Korean
Joseon Dynasty, which resulted in a major division between peasants and the
wealthily oppressive royalty, Kundun has the perfect scenario for a Robin Hood
type narrative. Unoriginal as it may be, this is cinematically a perfect match,
providing plenty of action and a reason to root for the vengeance of the good
guys.

The producers of
Sex Tape must have been among the few
in Hollywood to
find good fortune in the controversial leaking of hacked celebrity photos and
videos. Without this incident, commonly referred to as ‘The Fappening’ by
online communities, the film Sex Tape
would have had absolutely no relevance. Unfortunately, people will remember the
celebrity scandal long after they have forgotten this ridiculously mediocre
film ever existed.

There are plenty
of sequels to action movies, because there are always new villains and
injustices for heroes to battle against. There are no shortages of horror
sequels, giving the impression that some monsters will never die; at least not
as long as their survival continues to sell tickets. The one genre which rarely
sees a sequel is the romantic comedy, because to continue the story often means
admitting that the ‘happily ever after’ ending from the previous installment was
somewhat of a lie. Filmmaker Cédric Klapisch tackles this impossible task for
the second time in one narrative, with time between each sequel being his only
saving grace.

Hollywood has long had the tendency to look
towards the foreign film market for new ideas to replicate, but Daniel Cohen’s
lighthearted culinary comedy is a French film which seems to be imitating the
bubbling simplicity of an American comedy. Realism and originality are thrown
out the window for a carefree romp in the cinematic world of French
haute-cuisine. While this approach is likely to keep Le Chef off of any lists
for artistic achievements, it makes for an engaging evening of entertainment.

Claude Chabrol’s
Nightcap (Merci pour le Chocolat) is what you might have gotten from Alfred
Hitchcock’s Rebecca had it been a comedy. There is a mystery at the center of
the film, but the reveal comes as less of a surprise as the casual manner with
which the film’s murderous culprit justifies and dismisses these evil actions.
Even the revelations of criminal insanity are not enough to disturb the
pristine veneer of upper class wealth.

Daniel Boone was
a real life frontiersman and American pioneer whose exploits and explorations
were impressive enough to make him one of the country’s first folk heroes. This
television series does not look to paint an accurate representation of history,
but instead focuses on enhancing the legend of Boone. There are definite
timeline issues in the narrative, but the spirit of the adventurer is captured
in the same manner I imagine word of mouth originally embellished Boone into
celebrity.

Director Álex de
la Iglesia (El Crimen Perfecto, The Last Circus) has shown his ability
to find the comedic edge in dark and often morbid narratives in the past, but
he seems to be having more fun than ever with his latest, Witching & Bitching. Part crime film, part buddy action, part
horror, and part screwball comedy; this film crams a little bit of everything
into a concise and energetic 114 minutes that ends up feeling like a blend of From Dusk till Dawn and The Witches if Eastwick on crack. This
may not be a perfect film, but it is unique and fun enough to easily forgive
its minor shortcomings.

Fans of the
award-winning play will enjoy the stylistic nuances that Roman Polanski has
added through the medium of film, though it remains a narrative contingent upon
the ability of the only two actors in the cast. The entire story takes place in
just one evening, taking place at a single location, and to call it
‘dialogue-heavy’ would be the understatement of the year. This is what made for
such great theater, containing roles theatrical actors can often only dream of,
though Polanski and his cast must work twice as hard to make the same elements
work on film.